Hotels & Hospitality Industry Consultants: 7

Preston Rideout is a highly sought-after Nightclub and Bar Consultant with 25 years of experience and 75 Alcohol Safety Certifications. As CEO of Rideout Hospitality, he provides consulting to Hotels, Casinos, Resorts, Restaurants, Nightclubs, and Bars. As Founder of The Dram Shop Experts, Preston Rideout provides alcohol-related expert witness testimony for Restaurant, Nightclub, and Bar lawsuits.

His comprehensive nightlife knowledge provides powerful insight into responsible alcohol service and industry-standard bar operations. For these reasons, Preston Rideout is the legal industry's leading nightclub and bar expert.

Upon graduating from the University of Mississippi, Preston Rideout relocated to Las Vegas to operate Coyote Ugly, Tangerine Nightclub, Pure Nightclub, PCD l Louge, Audigier Nightclub, LAX Nightclub, Noir Bar, EVE Nightclub, Venus, and Rehab Pool Party, located inside New York Casino, Treasure Island Casino, Ceasar's Palace, The Luxor, Aria Casino, and The Hard Rock Hotel.

In 2010, Preston launched Rideout Hospitality and began consulting for Hotels, Resorts, Restaurants, Nightclubs, and Bars across the United States.

In 2016, Preston Rideout and Ryan Dahlstrom published a Bartender Training Manual and received over 100,000 downloads. To date, The Bar Experts Bartender Training Manual is the most downloaded document in the Hospitality Industry.

In 2018, Preston Rideout recruited Kim Schioldan and Silver Tree Gordon to create the Dram Shop Experts. As a team, they have 75 years of experience and operated over 250 Restaurants, Nightclubs, Bars, Pool Parties, and Music Festivals. Clients retain the Dram Shop Experts to provide insight into Responsible Alcohol Service Intoxication Identification Industry Standard Bar Operations Bartender Training Security Use of Force Nightclub Negligence, and Liquor Liability.

View Preston Rideout's Expert Witness Profile.

Gary Deel, Ph.D., J.D. has 10 years of experience in executive-level positions in the hospitality industry and 10 years of experience teaching hospitality management and law curriculum for some of the nation's top hotel schools.

Dr. Deel holds both a Ph.D. in Hospitality and a J.D. in Law, so he understands the nuances of expert witness testimony from the perspective of attorney strategy. He has also worked in a variety of different hospitality industry capacities including operations, sales, security and risk management, training and administration, and others. His services are available to help attorneys make the strongest possible arguments for clients in hospitality-related cases. Dr. Deel offers expert witness services nationwide in the areas of:

Hotels Resorts Restaurants Travel and Tourism Meetings and Events

Theme Parks Airlines Cruise Lines Casinos Golf Courses

Recent Cases:

• Suit against Miami beach resort involving catastrophic injury in the ocean and hotel duty to warn about latent hazards known to hotel and not obvious to visitors (plaintiff).
• Suit against Orlando city center convention hotel involving sexual assault of a minor guest by an employee and hotel duty to monitor employee whereabouts and activities (plaintiff).

Keystone Hospitality Solutions (KHS) provides full service Restaurant Consulting, from concept development through launch. For the past 32 years, KHS has worked with an extensive network of industry professionals that they bring to each project. Their goal with every project is to fully commit their expertise to support the vision and success of their clients.  

Consulting Services:

Business Plans: Create and Review Branding and Marketing: Comprehensive plan and strategies Menu Development: Recipes, costing and presentation Site Selection: Location research and lease negotiations Staff Training: Staff hiring, training, handbooks and scheduling Facility Design: Work with architect, kitchen designer and contractor

Financial Setup: Capital budget, income/profit projections Investment Strategies: Investment offerings Technology: Latest technology for operations and profitability Executive Coaching: One on one leadership coaching Resources and Networking Expert Witness Services

Alan Someck’s 42 years of experience in the Hospitality Industry as an owner, operator, consultant, and teacher has given him the in depth practical knowledge to provide highly professional and thorough expert witness reports, depositions and testimony.  For the past 14 years, he has been a full time Management Instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City as well as serving as an Adjunct Professor of Hospitality Management at the New York Institute of Technology.

Mr. Someck has had 25 years of experience as a full time operator in fine dining and fast casual restaurants. Through his active consulting firm, Keystone Hospitality Solutions, he has helped develop a wide variety of restaurant concepts ranging from cafes to full service restaurants, and worked as a food service operations analyst for organizations such as the U.S. State Department, U.S. Patent Office, and the F.A.A. 

Mr. Someck has organized and presented at workshops, conferences, and training programs for the New York State Restaurant Association, and has been a national keynote speaker and author of hospitality related business articles on hospitality management strategies, food service operations, and franchising.  He has been featured in a variety of industry media publications such as Forbes.com and Full Service Restaurant Magazine. Mr. Someck is also a Nationally Certified Trainer in ServSafe Food Safety and ServSafe Alcohol.

View Alan Someck's Expert Witness Profile.

Leonard J. Backer has over 28 years of extensive and successful Furniture Industry experience in all key areas including:

Sourcing Private Label Production Product Development Original Design Marketing Branding Import and Distribution

Vendor Qualification Supplier Relations Contract Negotiations Customer Service Competitive Analysis Sales Agreements Designer Driven Approach

Mr. Backer has executive level perspective in start-up, turnaround and aggressive growth situations with long term industry relations, both domestically and overseas. He specializes in Private Label Manufacturing, Sourcing, and Product Development expertise.

Leonard Backer has provided extensive consulting work on short and long term projects. He has provided consulting work on various topics over the past few years for private equity companies, large branded manufacturers, and independent product designers. Mr. Backer has conducted site visits to 80 overseas and domestic factory operations. Worked closely with independent product designers.

View Leonard Backer's Expert Witness Profile.

Maurice Robinson, ISHC, CRE, ASA, is an expert in the field of hotel and resort consulting. He has been facilitating the development and redevelopment of high-end, full-service hotels and resorts for over 30 years. 

Additionally, Mr. Robinson has been providing litigation support services, strategic advisory services, hotel repositioning, market feasibility studies, and appraising hotels and other hospitality-related real estate. His expertise includes advising clients on development planning, deal structuring and financial issues, dispute resolution, workouts, and expert witness testimony related to hotel and resort development and investment. 

Qualified Expert Witness & Consultant in Hotel and Real Estate Industry Business Issues:

Market, economic & financial feasibility Valuation Owner-operator, borrower-lender, franchisor-franchisee Disputes Management contracts Ground & building leases Partnership & JV agreements Concession contracts Development agreements and loan documents Expert witness testimony Litigation strategy, consultation and support Damage calculations

Lost profits analysis Real estate appraisals Deal structuring & workouts New development Strategic planning Market demand assessment Acquisition due diligence Economic, financial & investment analysis Can estimate damages and appraise property values under multiple scenarios Trained Arbitrator & Mediator

Winner of the Creative Counselor of the Year for appraising the Grand Canyon.

realEats Consulting began as a resource website (www.realeats.org) for Florida International University, to acclimate students with the “green” supply chain and sustainability concepts. This resource site highlights over 400 “green” vendors offering thousands of “real” products.

realEats Consulting is focused on improving the operational performance of restaurants, hotels, and resorts. They specialize in providing a wide array of services for both corporate and independent operators including:

• Creating Sustainable Food and Beverage Programs
• Creating Sustainable Business Solutions
• Operations Management
• Financial Review
• New or Updated Training

realEats founder, Dr. Joel Feigenheimer, is an industry expert with over 35 years of experience related to the Restaurant and Hospitality field. He has spent a career developing relationships with industry associates around the globe. His “six degrees of separation” include executives with specialties in every area of hospitality. Over his career he has consulted on three continents, excelled in the corporate environment, been a successful entrepreneur, and met thousands of industry leaders. Now, as a full time educator at Florida International University Chaplin School of Hospitality, he has chosen “the best in the World” to join the realEats consulting team.

View Joel Feigenheimer's Expert Witness Profile.

David Rutecki's career spans 39 years of Restaurant and Hospitality related experience. Working in more than 20 restaurants and involved in the opening of more than a dozen, he has worked every position possible within this industry. Mr. Rutecki currently owns and operates Mountain Deli in Hendersonville, garnering the 2016, 2017 & 2018 Blue Ridge Growth Award. He is a Member of the North Carolina and National Restaurant Associations. Mr. Rutecki has been invloved in the following selected restaurants:

• Fancy’s Food and Wine, Gourmet Shop, Coral Gables, South Miami & Grove Isle, Fl.
• Susie’s Bagels, Breakfast Restaurant, South Miami, Fl.
• Pizzaria Uno, Full Service Restaurant, Miami, Fl.
• Baystreet, Full Service Seafood Restaurant, Miami, Fl.
• Rusty Pelican, Upscale Seafood, Key Biscayne, Miami, Fl.
• Rudolph's BBQ, Upscale BBQ, Miami, Fl.
• Signature Gardens, Upscale Catering Hall, Miami, Fl.
• Chart House, Upscale Seafood, Coconut grove, Fl.
• Cafe Tu Tu Tango, Coconut Grove, Fl.
• Gatsby’s, Upscale Billiards and Cigar Bar, Boca Raton, Fl.
• Prezzo, Casual Italian, Boca Raton, Fl.
• Maxwell’s Chophouse, Upscale Steakhouse, Boca Raton, Fl.
• Mountain Deli, Delicatessen, Downtown Hendersonville, NC
• Tabica Grill, Upscale American, Jupiter, Fl.
• Jonathon's Landing Marina Club, Upscale Boating Club, Jupiter, Fl
• Jetty's, Upscale Seafood, Jupiter, Fl.
• Austin Grill, Casual, Washington, DC.

Litigation Support - David Rutecki offers expert witness and litigation support for restaurant related issues in the United States. His services are available to counsel representing both Plaintiff and Defendant. Areas of Expertise:

• Restaurant and Kitchen Design, Menu Development
• Food Safety and Sanitation
• Bar Operations & Liquor Liability... Dram Shop
• Safety & Security - Slips, Trips and Falls
• Daily Operations & Management, Employee & Staffing Issues
• Retail Operations
• Staff & Mgmt Training Programs & Handbooks
• Business Plan Development